Goodbye My Almost Lover
by o.ForeverYoung.o
Summary: "Not all buds bloom, and not all stories have a happy ending" - 2-shot alternative ending to House and Cameron's last scene in 6.08 "Teamwork"
1. Part 1

**A/N: **Hello again everyone :) This is a piece that I wrote months ago now. It was just a little something I put together based on how I was feeling after I watched House and Cameron's last scene together in 6.08 "Teamwork". I had absolutely no intentions of posting it, until my dear friend Lilly convinced me to.

I have a lot the second part written already, so there shouldn't be long before that's added. Part 1 will be mainly be from Cameron's perspective (although it will start with House's), but Part 2 will be from House's perspective. Also, the song I used as inspiration for this fic is "Beautiful" by Jennifer Paige. I immediately thought of House and Cam and their history when I heard it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it :)

P.S. I promise that a new chapter of "The Bet" is coming soon, but I seem to have hit a little snag which I am currently in the process of working through. I apologize for the wait, but I want to have it right before I post it.

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"_**Goodbye My Almost Lover"**_

_Part 1. _

"_I loved you, and I loved Chase…I'm sorry for you both, for what you've become because…there's no way back for either of you."_

Her words echoed within his head with painful clarity. How did she do that? How did she reveal a part of him that he hadn't been expecting to see tonight?

House watched numbly as Cameron's outstretched hand appeared in front of him. Her eyes glistened with the pain and raw emotion that had revealed itself in the very tone of her voice.

She turned to walk away from him, and the cold, desperate sensation of realization suddenly flooded his veins.

She was leaving.

And he was pretty sure that it would be for good this time. Did she honestly think that he was going to let her do that?

He blinked his crystal blues, breaking away from the momentary shock of her declaration.

Like hell.

"How dare you."

His words made her pause, but she still didn't turn back around to face him.

"How dare you say something like that to me Cameron, and then think that you can just walk away."

She finally turned, and her darker eyes met his vivid blues ones, now burning with the heart of a flame as what he was feeling began to rise to the surface. He had no idea why he'd said it. Why _now_, after all these years, he'd finally tried to stop her.

But if she left him tonight, he wanted her to feel every step she took away from him like a blow to her gut…because that is exactly what watching her take those steps would feel like to him.

"_Excuse _me?" She asked in amazement. "How dare _I_? No House. How dare you. How dare you destroy my marriage and then think that you have the right to tell me not to be angry."

Her breath trembled, and fluctuations were heard clearly within her words. Damn it, she was going to start crying. That was unacceptable. He had already caused her to shed enough tears in the past.

She could tell herself over and over that he wasn't worth it. That he didn't deserve her pain. But love wasn't that simple. It didn't discriminate, and it certainly wasn't black and white. It wasn't its fault if something went wrong. You couldn't blame it, no matter how hard you tried, because the truth was, leave it up to human nature to totally screw up something so precious for no apparent reason.

He was standing there in front of her. There was pain on his face, but also the struggling to distance himself from what was happening. Bracing himself for what was about to come his way. And he deserved it. He deserved to have her fire off, to tell him what he had done to her. It was her right to hit him with all of her anger, all of her pain, all of her dissapointment and confusion…

And maybe if she had been thinking clearly, she would have done just that. In the end it probably would have been less painful.

But no, it could never be that simple in her life. As he had already pointed out to her years ago, she wasn't one to take the easy road.

Before she even had a chance to think about it, she reached her hands up to frame the sides of his face. She knew that he realized what she was about to do. They'd been here before. Déjà vu at it's finest. She could feel the protest forming as his body tensed in preperation to stop her…to keep it from happening.

But she wasn't going to back down. She wasn't going to hesitate or allow herself to over-analyze, despite her tendency to do just that with every aspect of her life.

He should have known that this was going to happen sooner or later. He should have remembered how incredibly unpredictable she could be sometimes…even to herself.

And he should have remembered just how incredibly potent their chemistry had been…had _always _been. They may have drifted apart. She may have gotten married, he may have suddenly decided to pursue their boss…but even through all of that, it was still there. It probably always would be.

But there wasn't any time to think about that. There wasn't any time to think or feel, or resist or doubt at all…as she slowly brought his lips down hard upon his.

And something achingly bittersweet inside of her broke free.

At first he was stunned. She could feel in his still resistant frame that he was struggling within himself. Struggling to decide whether to push her away or guide her closer.

But it wasn't his choice. He didn't get a say in this...Not this time.

Desperate to keep him there, her lips moved over the softness of his, and when that didn't break him, she ran the tip of her tongue over the seam over him mouth...tasting him, taunting him, daring him to react.

And then she felt it. She felt his hands tighten on her hips, pulling her firmly against him. She heard the sound he made deep in his throat at the sensation of her mouth against his, and she knew...she knew in that moment that she had won. She had proven her point. She had shattered his shields.

But she forgot all about the victory when she suddenly felt him come to life under the pressure of her mouth as he took control of the kiss.

Something wrenched deep inside of her heart and body, as the kiss reawakened their dormant connection. It was desperate, passionate, and almost punishing...Full of destiny denied and desire intensified. As if through it, they were desperately trying to hold on to each other...As if they both believed that as long as it continued, the rest of the would couldn't touch them.

It was a moment that brought her body achingly to life, yet at the same time seemed to kill her.

She suddenly realized what Gilda had meant all those years ago when she said that hate was such an exciting emotion. Just minutes ago the only desire she possessed was to hit him. To hurt him physically as much as he had hurt her emotionally...but now her thoughts were consumed by a completely different emotion.

The tears she had fought to keep him from seeing began to slide down her cheeks. Falling over her soft skin towards their joined lips. She was soaring, but all the while her heart was breaking into a thousand pieces.

Because a kiss is just a kiss. It's a moment in time where the past and the future melt away, giving into only the present...the here and now.

And she knew long before he finally began to slow his pace, that the here and now was all that he was going to give her.

The sudden bruising force of his mouth began to lessen, and the kiss suddenly turned gentle...comforting almost. As if the taste of her tears had brought him back from whatever primal train he had been riding on, and the knowledge of her pain had turned him inside out. But it didn't comfort her. It just made it worse. She had been prepared for many things, but the sudden disarming tenderness of his touch hadn't been one of them.

He held her like she was the most precious thing in his life. He touched her like her skin was made from the finest of silks. He kissed her as if she were an addiction a million times stronger than Vicodin.

He kissed her like he loved her...and she kissed him back the same way. God help her, but she did.

But still, as she finally pulled away and felt his labored breath against her lips...she knew that she couldn't stay.

In a way she was already gone.


	2. Part 2

"_**Goodbye My Almost Lover"**_

_Part 2. _

Wilson had once told him about the term soul mates. Two people in the world destined to be each other's perfect match.

But Wilson was an idiot. Even if you were fortunate enough to find your other half, more times than not, circumstances would make it so that you would never be able to keep them…or even attain them in some cases.

The first time he had talked to her, he had felt something give from within him. Something shift and slide into place…like a puzzle piece that had been manipulated one way after another, before finally sinking home seamlessly into its rightful place.

But she deserved better than him, and he knew it. So he fought it, despite it being quite possibly the hardest thing he'd ever had to do.

Sometimes he wished that she wasn't so beautiful.

It hurt him. The previously unknown ache to touch what he realized a long time ago could never be his.

But soul mates, fairytales, happy endings…it was all bullshit. And they were living proof of that. Because if any of it were true, she wouldn't be standing there saying goodbye…walking out of his life for good this time.

"Goodbye House."

He watched her with a sense of numbness as she turned around to walk away. His heart and mind dark with emptiness. But emptiness was good. Emptiness kept him from hopelessly calling after her and trying to convince her to stay. Emptiness allowed him to let her leave…exactly what he knew she needed to do.

He didn't want to stand there and watch her leave, taking a gaping piece of him along with her. But he couldn't seem to get that message through to his legs. So he stood there. He stood there and watched her walk away from his office.

But he couldn't exactly blame what he was feeling right now on her. He could have avoided all of this by not giving into that kiss. He thought that he had come to terms with the knowledge that he'd never have her. He had never really liked the idea, but he _accepted _it.

But that kiss had just completely thrown all of that progress out the window. If anything was ever going to reignite their connection, then that was certainly it.

He stood there with the taste of her still on his lips, and he knew that he would carry that taste with him for a long time. Sleep wasn't going to come easy, and when it finally did, the dreams would be that of torment.

He should have just pushed her away. He had made the mistake in believing that he couldn't possibly hurt more than he had when he had pushed her away all those years ago. But he had been wrong. For once in his life, he had been dead wrong.

He would be paying for this night for a long time, and he knew it. This wasn't going to be easy to get over…especially with the realization that he had never been quite as over her as he had lead himself to believe.

And now he knew he never would be. This wasn't the kind of thing that you just…got over. It didn't work that way. It was nice to think otherwise, but it just didn't.

Because pretty soon the numbness would wear off, and his brain would have to decide which emotion it wanted to turn on first in light of the events of the night.

And then the pain would begin, and he would have to deal with it. Again.

Alone.

And he would have no one to blame but himself.

He knew he had to move, do something. Go and see Wilson, who would give him some stupid reassuring words about how he would bounce back. That happiness is drawn in loops, going round and round again. It is a never-ending cycle…an annual that will bud in its own due time.

But once again he reminded himself that Wilson was an idiot.

Because not all buds bloom, and he certainly knew that not all stories have a happy ending.

_Fin..._

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_**A/N: **Well, there you have it. As you can probably see, I had a lot more trouble writing the part from House's perspective than I did Cameron's. I think that's because it's often very difficult writing romance/angst from House's perspective without it appearing to be OOC. It's a lot easier with Cameron because she's a lot more "open" about feelings and that so to speak.

Just to clear something up...Yes, the story's title is based on the song "Almost Lover" by A Fine Frenzy. That, and the song "Beautiful" by Jennifer Paige really inspired this story. Both songs really connected well to House and Cameron I thought.

Thank you everyone who has read and reviewed this story. Your words mean the world to me.

:)


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